Sunday, June 9, 2019

June 1989, Beijing

Photo: Citizen News.
  A member of the Chinese State Council estimated that at least 10,000 civilians were killed in the Tiananmen massacre of June 4, 1989, declassified files reveal.
  Alan Donald, Britain’s ambassador when the Chinese government sent tanks into Tiananmen square to quell the student-led protests, sent telegrams to the foreign office on June 5, a day after the massacre. He said a person – whose name was redacted from the document – passed along the information from an unnamed member of the State Council….The documents from the UK National Archives in London were declassified in October….
  In 2014, Next Magazine reported on White House declassified files, which estimated that 10,454 were killed and 40,000 were injured. The documents cited internal files from the Chinese government headquarters in Zhongnanhai, which were passed to the Americans via sources in the martial law troops….
   The commander of 27 Army of Shanxi Province was Yang Zhenhua, the nephew of Yang Shangkun, China’s president at the time.  “[The 27 Army] were kept without news for ten days and told they were to take part in exercise.  A TV film would be made of the exercise which pleased them,” Donald wrote….“Students understood they were given one hour to leave square but after five minutes APCs attacked.  Students linked arms but were mown down including soldiers.  APCs then ran over bodies time and time again to make ‘pie’ and remains collected by bulldozer.  Remains incinerated and then hosed down drains.”   https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/12/21/declassified-chinese-official-said-least-10000-civilians-died-1989-tiananmen-massacre-documents-show/

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